Oklahoma.

I don't know if anyone over that way is reading this blog, but so many Americans will be affected by that terrifying tornado that has destroyed so much.  The news item I read states that there are likely to be more twisters - God forbid they are as bad as this one.  My heart aches for you all.  Why is Nature being so cruel this century?  Is it payback time for what humans have done to the planet in the past few centuries?

MRI scan results.

After all those dismal posts earlier this year about my neck and other problems, I forgot to post an update!  I had the MRI scan that the neurosurgeon booked me in to, and man I hope I never have to have one of those again!  I've been pushed into tunnels for CT scans, but they weren't too bad, as you can still see the end of the tunnel if you keep your eyes open.  But the MRI tunnel is something far more sinister.  First of all, the nurse  gave me ear plugs.  Ear plugs??  Well, it gets a bit noisy in there, she explained.  Once I was lying on the table ready to be propelled into the tunnel, they put a shield-like thing over my face.  I forget what the explanation was, but I assumed it was to protect my head/brain from anything that was being done to my neck.  I was told the process would take about 15 minutes, and they gave me a rubber bulb-thing to hold, and squeeze if I panicked and wanted to be taken out.

For the first few seconds nothing seemed to be happening.  Then it started - a loud drumming noise that went on and on.  Finally that stopped and was replaced by a high pitched noise.  Then the drumming again.  More odd noises interspersed with drumming.  I hate to think what it would have been like without the ear plugs.  I've since been told they used to play music to drown out the sound of the machinery, but it didn't work, so now they use ear plugs.  I was just at the point where I was ready to squeeze my bulb-thing and scream for help when a disembodied voice floated above me saying it was just about over and thanks for my patience.
Phew!  I took a minute or so to get my balance when I got off that table, but the nurses didn't seem surprised.

I suppose it was worth the effort though, to get the incredible images of my neck that shows "multi-level degenerative changes" in much more detail than the previous CT scans and X rays.  Anyway, the good news is that in the words of the neurosurgeon's letter to my GP -

Gina keeps things under control with acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractory and myotherapy.  I think she is doing a good job with this and there is no indication for surgery.  I am happy to discharge her from my care.

Isn't that nice to be told by an expert that you are doing a good job looking after yourself?

Japanese brush painting.

This morning I attended another two hour workshop over at Box Hill Community Arts Centre. We learnt to paint pictures with brush and black ink in the Japanese style. You can see my paintings over here.

Calligraphy workshop

I had booked into two drawing workshops in Eltham recently,  but they were both cancelled due to lack of interest (only me and one other person enrolled).  Very disappointing....however, I was lucky to find out about a workshop on Japanese Calligraphy in Box Hill this weekend, so I attended that yesterday and enjoyed it very much.   There is another class next week on a slightly different aspect of Japanese brush painting, and I'm enrolled in that too.  In the meantime, you can see the results of my work yesterday at my blog  Patra's Art And Crafts.

Out with the old...

When Ken gave me the chook dinner set for my birthday, it was time for serious culling of dinner sets in our household. I am not like some of my friends who have multiple dinner sets just because they love them - even if I did like many dinner sets, we don't have the space to store them. (Mind you, said friends don't have hundreds of table cloths for the same reason...) Just before we married, Ken and I bought a six setting 'Africa" design Royal Doulton dinner set for 'best'.

It has  been in the crystal cabinet in the dining room for 30 years and only seen daylight a dozen times.
I said to Ken "We liked it so much when we bought it, but we hardly ever have the pleasure of using it on a day to day basis.  Why don't we move it to the kitchen for every day use and keep the new chook set for when we have guests?"   He agreed, so that's what we have done.
But tonight we decided to 'christen' the chooks.  Guess what we had for dinner?  Roast Chicken of course.

This is the Noritake set we have been using in the kitchen for about 12 years.  My niece was thrilled to bits when I called to ask if she would like it, as she had a very special bond with her grandpa (my Dad), and it meant a lot to her to own this, as it was originally a wedding gift to Dad from his brother when Dad married my stepmother.  I asked Niece if she would be using the big teapot (at the back on the right), and she said probably not, and was happy for me to keep it, as it comes in handy when we have the occasional crowd of friends or relations over.  So I've still got a bit from my Dad's dinner set too!  Win win situation :-)

...In with the New.  Newly hatched baby quail chick.  Go to my birds blog to see more!

Lest We Forget. 25th April 2013.

This is probably one of the most important days on the Australian calendar, and rightly so.  Anyone reading this who does not live in Australia, and does not know the meaning of ANZAC, I suggest you 'google' ANZAC Day to find out more.

Topsy and Tiger - The Cats at Our Place.

Tiger and Topsy are NOT friends. We brought Tiger in to the household as a kitten, when Topsy was already about 10 years old, and her nose was out of joint in a big way. They barely tolerate each other most of the time, although they don't actually fight, so Ken and I were pleased when we saw them on the same side of the couch last night.

It didn't last for long though.  Topsy swished her tail over Tiger's back legs, startling him.

His reaction was to nip the black tail.

 Not a good idea!!!